The weighting is the hardest part…
The weight loss continues trucking away, with another three pounds this week, which means last week’s 7.2 pound loss was not some dehydrated fluke (as there was no correction today). So, I’m well on my way to reaching goal as soon as next week?! Yikes…
Got an early start today, did the workout before 8 a.m., in time to get to the 9 a.m. weigh-in at Weight Watchers (though bailing on the meeting), then shipped some eBay things out to people (DVDs), and decided to keep my streak of productivity alive… which is where things took a downturn.
I have been meaning for a while now to go see my doctor. I don’t need a checkup, but rather just to weigh-in. When I signed up for health insurance after getting fired by Macromedia, I used an online insurance broker to find the best plan/rate. At the time, I was about 240ish pounds.
When I filled out the online application, I put down that I was 230, as I was losing weight at the time (the yo-yo was heading down at that point). Little did I know but 220 was the weight at which I would have to pay $10 extra per month because I was at risk for weight-related medical conditions (Type-2 diabetes, and the list goes on…)
When I finally got down around 200, I got a checkup by my doctor and then went to call my insurance provider to tell them to change my rate. Of course, this wasn’t as easy as it sounds. They said they needed to verify that I was maintaining my lower weight, so I would need to go back to my doctor in six months time, get another reading, and then they would adjust things.
It’s been well over six months, and it just keeps falling off my to-do list, so today, i decided to just drop-in at my doctor’s office, jump on the scale, and make that part of today’s morning activities.
From the get-go, it was clear that the staff at my doctor’s office wasn’t keen on the drop-in. But, since I was there, they would try to accommodate me. In addition to the drop-in, they have never heard of my request from an insurance provider to just weigh a patient to verify continued weight loss maintenance. We joked that the insurance company seemed to not care about my weight being verified when I bought the policy, but now that I was trying to reduce its cost there were all kinds of hoops they would make me jump through. She smiled and said, that’s the way it always works. Needless to say, I didn’t realize at the time that the insurance company would be the second hoop that would need to be jumped through. I was standing in front of the first.
So, I sat there for 15 minutes (which seemed like 40), while they answered phones, assisted other patients, and every so often, returned to talking about my case at a level at which I heard everything.
Finally, they call me back up to the window and tell me that they don’t think they can do anything for me today, because they aren’t sure how the insurance company will verify the information. They made need written confirmation, just a phone call, they don’t know. Now, I let them continue their explanation despite the obvious flaws in logic. I mean, the nature of their concern is what will happen AFTER they record my new weight, only… they aren’t taking my new weight. It seems like we’re getting one step ahead of ourselves here. Not to mention, I told them that my insurance company already said the procedure: I come back, get weighed in, and then my provider will contact them to verify. So, no matter how my provider chooses to retrieve this information, their role seems limited to having this information.
They say it needs to be a scheduled appointment and not just a drop-in. Again, this is a 30-second procedure. The scale is three feet away from us (through a wall, but still) at the time of this conversation. They said it needs to be at a time when it isn’t conflicting wth other appointments, which seems to suggest that they will either bloat my visit up with something else, or I have to have a 30-minute block carved out on their schedule for this procedure.
Then, they finish off by verifying my phone number so they can contact me to schedule an appointment to do this. Finally, I can’t resist and ask if I am understanding them correctly. They want me to leave the office and go home, so they can call me to schedule an appointment, whereby I can come back to their office to stand on a scale for 30 seconds (and gather their $40 co-pay, I’m sure). And, not only am I unable to get my weight read today while I’m here, because there is no room in the schedule, they are also unable to schedule my appointment while I’m standing in front of them, but rather call me at home. I ask if I am understanding everything correctly.
And, as the conversation began, it also ended, with her saying it’s never a good idea to try and drop-in. At which point, frustrated, she just walked away from the window, dropped my chart in the stack to be refiled, and let out a huge exhale.
After this, I was famished (having not eaten before weighing in, natch) and knowing that the idea of going home and having to prepare food was not in th cards, I went to Crepevine to have my favorite Pumpkin Spice pancakes (hold the butter) with a side of fresh fruit. I have no clue whether they are vegan because to ask would provide answers I might not be ready to accept. So, basically you get three thick, huge pancakes, syrup, and a small bowl of assorted fruit (pineapple, mango, kiwi, grapes, etc.)
Toward the end of the meal, something happened that has never happened before. In mid-meal, I was knowingly eating too much food. It wasn’t a lot more, but before I had, say, the last 5 pieces of pancake, I knew I was full. Now, post-meal, this is not a new sensation. But the feeling has always been limited to "I ate too much," never "I’m full" and/or "I’ve eaten enough" and having it occur DURING the actual meal. So, that was a huge step forward, related either to my eating smaller portions and less food in general lately or just a heightened awareness of my body? Not sure which. I just hope my stomach and I start chatting like that more often. And, unlike today, I promise to listen next time.
